US Patent 7416699 - Nanotube interconnect between catalyst island contacts

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7416699.html

This patent from Stanford University has an early priority date (Aug. 14, 1998) and includes some very basic claims to carbon nanotubes formed from catalyst islands used as electrical interconnects. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanotube device comprising:

first and second conducting elements and at least one nanotube adapted to pass current between the first and second conducting elements, wherein a first end of said at least one nanotube is in electrical contact with the first conducting element and a second end of said at least one nanotube is in electrical contact with the second conducting element, and wherein at least one end of the at least one nanotube is rooted in a catalyst island.

A similar patent (with even broader claims) to nanotube interconnects was also issued to Canon as US Patent 7,148,619. The US priority of the Canon patent is Oct. 26, 1998 but the foreign priority is Oct. 30, 1997.